Statistics Canada this morning announces:
Led by declines among youths, employment decreased by 39,000 in July, and the unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 7.2%. With this decrease, employment gains have averaged 11,000 per month over the past six months, slower than the average of 27,000 observed during the preceding six-month period.
Since July 2012, employment has increased 1.3% (+226,000). At the same time, the number of hours worked has grown 0.7%, as part-time employment rose at a faster pace than full time (+2.2% versus +1.1%).
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/130809/dq130809a-eng.htm?HPA
It should be noted that the Canadian unemployment rate in early 2008, before the recession, was 6.1%
Should we all stand up and give Mr Harper and his Conservative/Reform Party a standing ovation for this overwhelming performance?
I think not.
Two months ago, Conservative/Reform supporters were quick to congratulate the federal government:
"economy booming under CPC governance"
"Its looking very good for Harper and the CPC!! Thankfully it sounds like Flaherty's health is on the mend and we'll have many more years of top tier leadership"
"Credit the Harper team. Fixing the economy bodes well for 2015."
Any comment this time guys? Do you have anything good to say about the ineffective Harper economic "Action Plan" which has cost us, Canadian taxpayers, $113,000,000 in advertising costs in the last four years?
http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/economic-action-plan-ads-ineffective-survey-finds-1.1376723
This unemployment thing is a shell game….”look at these figures while we adjust these and then come back over here while we manipulate these other figures”.
Then there’s the actual figures themselves. The people hired, is there any indication some of them aren’t replacing retiring workers, workers who have died, workers who have moved.
Then there’s the quality of the jobs? How many are part time and out of that part time how many are students with student jobs for the summer but their addition to the work roles may not show that.
It’s all very complicated and easily manipulated and in reality, no one knows how the bean counting works.
Then there’s the job ‘quality’. How many are minimum wage people and how many are good paying jobs? How many are contract jobs and how many are jobs with a real future?
I don’t believe in these stats because they have become a political tool for all politicians and when a politician gets their hands on numbers………..frankly I’d believe a drug crazy thief more.
What I believe is what I see around me and what real human beings tell me of their lives:
- First there are retired people who are pretty much set for life (for the most part) because they had good jobs in the past that paid well and with good pensions, but if some are still working they are doing very well on top of all that. They are what in many respects are keeping the economy going in many areas. When they die off, wait for the change and it won’t be pretty.
- Then there are the younger up and coming execs or ‘technical’ people who are paid good money, but they’re also in debt up to their ears. Wait for a downturn in the economy and there will be a lot of crying.
- Then there is the final group and these are the people who at one time held good paying long term jobs with futures for themselves and their families and the economy and they are slowly but surely disappearing. These are the average people who are the real ‘workers’…..the people who manufactured and produced the products that the execs want made from behind their mahogany desks and the tech people decide to design and innovate. So with all the execs and the techs ….where are the jobs? Well they’re going off shore and way down south increasingly and have been ever since Free Trade started. Many of these people aren’t even in the employment stats. Some have given up, others are on welfare, some are still living off their small pension and some are doing work under the table because that’s the only way they can make any money. The younger members of this group are too often turning to illegal activities because it is easy money when good jobs can’t be found.
These are the people I talk to and these are the real flesh and blood reality, not impersonal manipulative numbers on a piece of paper.
JMPO
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